Konrad Adenauer

Born in Germany on January 5, 1876 Adenauer was the first post -WWII Chancellor of Germany. He served from 1949 to 1963 and led Germany from the ruins of WWII to a prosperous nation. West Germany became allied to the US and France. He brought Germany stability, international respect and economic prosperity. Adenauer was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union that is still a very powerful political party in Germany.
He was one of the eldest voted leaders in history, but his strong work habits and political instinct marked him as a force to be reckoned with. He had a leaning toward a strong market based open-minded democracy and was anti-communist. He was committed to Western foreign strategies and fought to restore Germany as a major player in world policies. He founded the Bundeswehr in 1955 and worked with France to unify Western Europe. He opposed East Germany and enrolled his nation into NATO.
Adenauer laid the groundwork for Germany to be a viable part of the community of nations. His policies made reunification of East and West Germany possible. The German public voted him as the greatest German of all time in a 2003 poll ad his is praised for his commitment to western-style democracy and European Union.
Adenauer was married to Emma Weyer from 1904 to 1916 and then to Auguste Zinsser from 1919 to 1948. He had 8 children. He died on April 19, 1967 and his final words were, "There's nothing to weep about!"